Release rigging



G. G. GlLP| N RELEASE RIGGING 2 Sheets-Shet 1 Filed Sept. 19, 1921 Jiwen tor June 2,

G. G. GILPIN RELEASE RIGGING 2 Sheets-Sheet '2 Aiming Patented June 2, 1925.

UNITED STATES GARTH G. GILPIN, OF RIVERSIDE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WALTER P. MURPHY, OF

PATENT OFFICE.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RELEASE RIGGING.

Application filed September 19, 1921. Serial No. 501,579.

Riverside, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Release Rigging, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in release rigging for car couplers and more particularly to the construction of the car coupler lock pin lifting link.

Before the ruling of the American Railroad Association against the use of a chain and clevis for lifting the coupler lock pin a type of release rigging comprising a rotatable bar having a depending handle on the outer end and a crank arm extending over the coupler at the other end mounted on the crank arm end with a chain and clevis connecting the end of the crank arm and the lock pin had been in extensive use. An object of this invention is to provide a link that can be used with this type of operating rod and answer the requirements of the American Railroad Association interchange rules and rules covering new equipment. In the chain and clevis type the crank arm was provided with an eye in line wlth and above the eye in the lock pin and it is another ob-- jcct of this invention to provide a pin lifter link that is flexible in all directions and after once installed cannot become detached in service and which will engage in the eyes of the crank arm and lock pin respectively. hile the preferred forms of this invention are illustrated upon the accompanying sheets of drawing, yet it is understood that minor detail changes may be made without departing fiom the scope thereof.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a diagraunmitical. view ofthis improved pin lifter link in side elevation as applied to a car illustrating the end of the lifting or uncoupling movement in dotted lines.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view in side elevation of one element of the link.

Fig. 3- is an enlarged detail view in front elevation of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view in side elevation of the link applied to the crank arm and coupler pin in normal position.

Fig. 5 is a similar view in front elevation of Fig. 4. V

As illustrate-d in Fig. 1-1 is the end sill, 2 the striking casting, 3 the coupler head and 4 the car end, all of which are of usual construction; 5 is the rotatable operating rod of the release rigging mounted in brackets 6 on the end sill having a vertically depending handle 7 on the outer end and a horizontally extending crank arm 8 on the other end terminating in an enlarged eye over the car coupler lock pin, which construction is of a well known type and has gone into general use.

The improved pin lifting link comprises two elements 10 and 11 which are provided with interlocking eyes 12 and 13 formed by bending the adjacent ends one about the other in the manner shown and which are of sufficient size to allow of free play of each element in the other. The opposite or free ends of the elements areeach provided with what may be called pig tails 14 and 15.

As illustrated, each of the elements are formed from round bars with shanks 16 and 17 extending from the eyes 12 and 13. The pig tails are formed in the free ends by bending the shanks in the form of helices or spiral curves with the ends 18 and 19 terminating below and beyond planes at right angles to the center lines of the shanks passing through the center of the helices or spirals, and with the diameter of the helices or spirals and the distance between the body of the shank and the convolutions 20 and 21 of the pig tails sufficiently great to pass through the eye and receive the body of the crank arm or coupler lock pin. It is preferable to form one of the interlocking eyes in the plane passing through the center of the shank and center of the helices or spirals and the other at right angles to such plane, as shown in Fig. 4.

Vhen this improved link is to be used it is preferable to apply one element to the eye in the crank arm by inserting the end of one pig tail in the eye and rotating it about the crank arm end until it is engaged therewith.

Then to apply the link to the coupler pin.

22 before the rod is attached to the car the end of the other pig tail is inserted in the so as to allow of longitudinal movement of the coupler in draft and bufling andlati tudinal movement of the coupler during the swinging movements of the car-in service or going around curves without afiecting its operativeness. An upward movement of the ..c ank;.a m t aightensQut-the ink with its elements in tension upon the lock,pi n-.and a further upward movement .will unlock the ,coupler and when. the. lock is, in said lock set .positionandthe handlelreleased the crank arm can .return ,to its normal horizontal position.

11b will be noted. that thefhelical ,or .spiral ends. of the. two links,,a1 e, identical but that 'the two links are soformed that when con nected together it, is impossible to connect .the upper linkhto the operating rodand, the

.lowerlink to the couplereye bya rotative motion of the connectedlinks and vice.versa' it ,is impossible to disj-oin thelinksfromsaid operating. rod and coupler eye. by arotative motion. Arotative motion of thertworli nks secured together would thread. onelinkmto its. adjacent eye and theiother,linkoutof its adjacent. eye.

This pin: lifting link, is-a cheap, ;easily constructed. eflectiye. link answering. the .vAmerlean ,RailroadAssoclation rules and may be appliedto new. or oldtfllsinplace of the chain and clevis construction between the operatlng rod crank arm and coupler lock What I claim is: 1. Ina release rigging for a car coupler an operatingrod havin a horizontally isposed eye, a coupler lock pin having a horizontally disposed eye, and a connector operatively. connecting said eyes composed of two lin s'flexibly connected at their adjacent ends, each link formed at its opposite 'end into a spiral hook, said spiral hookssopositioned that a. rotative motion of the two connected links would thread one link into its adjacent eyeand the .otherlink out, of; itsadjacent eye.

2. ;In,,a release rigging for 3a car. coupler comprisin .an operating rod having. a. horizontally isposed eye, a. coupler .lock @P having a horizontally disposed eye, and a connector o ratively. connecting said. eyes composed) ,twodinksflexibly connected at .theiradjacent. ends, the upper-part ofthe flipper lmk .andthelower part of the lower link each having "a bendextendedto form a complete loop, the smallest overall dimenfzsion of the loop being greaterzthan any. .di-

:mension ofthe eye of themember to which it is connected whereby saidylink can only be engaged or disengaged withfsaid-mem .ber by a pivotal movement about an axis substantially perpendicular to. the, plane of :theloop, saidloops so positioned that a rotative motion of the two connected .links would thread one linkinto .itsadjacent eye andthemther link out of its adjacent eye.

GARTH s. LGILPIN. 

